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Monday, July 12, 2010

Jesse Jackson: Cavs owner sees James as 'runaway slave'

Jesse Jackson says the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers sees LeBron James as a "runaway slave" and that the owner's comments after the NBA forward decided to join the Miami Heat put the player in danger.

Shortly after James announced his decision last week, Dan Gilbert fired off an incendiary letter to Cleveland's fans, ripping the 25-year-old and promising to deliver a title before James wins one. He called James' decision "cowardly" and later told The Associated Press he believes James quit during a handful of Cavaliers playoff games.

"He has gotten a free pass," Gilbert told the AP in a phone interview late Thursday night. "People have covered up for (James) for way too long. Tonight we saw who he really is."

Jackson said Gilbert's comments were "mean, arrogant and presumptuous."

"He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers," the reverend said in a release from his Chicago-based civil rights group, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. "His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship -- between business partners -- and LeBron honoured his contract."

This is not only incendiary, I think people will really hate LeBron because now Jesse Jackson is bringing racial language into this story. I wonder if Jackson reads the sports pages enough to know that people were tired of the LeBron James spectacle?